Bach Keyboard Concertos BWV 1052-1058

Orchester Le Phénix joins forces with pianist Alena Cherny to perform seven solo concertos for keyboard by J. S. Bach.

Curious to me from the outset was a harpsichord set played on... piano. Why? Aren't we past that? These aren't piano concertos. And even more interesting is the photo from the booklet of the orchestra holding period instruments and gut strings.

From the outset, I'm not a fan of blurring the lines of historical performance practice. What do I mean by that?

There's a question posed in the liner notes. To wit:

The orchestra plays on modern instruments with baroque bows, or what we today call “historically informed”. I play on a modern grand piano. All the musicians gained a firm grasp of early music and period instruments during their studies. At first the idea of playing these concertos on a modern instrument provoked great scepticism. We didn’t think it would work. In an early rehearsal with the section leaders we experimented with period and modern instruments and bows. After trying out every possible permutation we finally arrived at the combination we use here: modern instruments, period bows.

I approach things philsophically. They write about using Urtext versions, about getting to the acutal notes that Bach left us, and not relying upon Romantic-era editors. Using period instruments isn't so much an "interperative approach," as the question is posed, but is one of artistic intention: is the music original to Bach or original to the artists? I have little interest in hearing interpreters use modern instruments in an effort to somehow compromise with a period sound. And that's what this record does: the piano is not exploited for what it can do. The instruments use steel strings but use period bows. Why? Because they thought it sounded best.

I'd rather hear this played romantically than half-assed historically-informed.

When Wendy Carlos recorded Bach, there was no real attempt to consider her use of synthesizers as a period approach. It was a modern interpretation. The same goes for Glenn Gould. I'm simply confused by those that adopt a middle ground; mascarading as they will, but knowing full-well they really aren't playing along.

On the other side of this coin is a legimate question: who is to say a pianist can't perform Bach on their instrument? What I will give Alena Cherny in this performnace is props for playing the pieces well. There's a consistent sound to her attack, the notes pop almost like the tinkle of the harpsichord. She doesn't employ dynamic extremes. She's no Frederich Gulda or Glenn Gould. She's trying to honor that period sound. But why?

So hear me out. There's some good musicianmanship on this record. But I take issue with the philosophy behind it. And for that, I can't reocmmend it. And it's not because the musicianmanship isn't there. It's well-played. Full stop.

What is the purpose of this album? Maybe if we wondered what Bach would do if he'd had a modern Steinway? If we'd time-machined Bach to today and we'd built no harpsichords?

Or for the music lover who hates the harpsichord and perfers piano? No doubt such people exist.

This album isn't for me and therefore I won't recommend it. BWV 1057 for piano and two recorders? Come on. If you've gone so far to try out the music with Urtext editions, smaller orchestral forces, and the historical bows? There's nothing wrong in adopting a modern instrumentarium for Bach's music. But exploit these instrumentarium for what it can add in value, not for showing us how it falls short.

N.B. As someone who dabbles in the graphic arts, Sony should also be held accountable for using that pseudo-old fashioned font on the cover. It reeks of what's wrong with this album's production values: trying to pretend to look backward with little regard for what the past held. It's lazy. The overhead ocean image superimposed with a planetoid is visually colorful but otherwise non-sensical in the context of Bach's concerti. The font is modeled after Italian specimens, like a "Garamond." What does Italian type-setting have to do with Bach? A handwriting font modeled after Bach's writing would have been more apropos.